Friday, May 01, 2009

Another Fitness Tip From Joey D...

We want to introduce a new Q&A feature here on the Joey D GolfGym Blog. A lot of you have found Joey D online and have been sending in your golf fitness related questions. Once a week we'll randomly choose a question or two and Joey will answer here on the blog. Add Joey on Facebook and fire in your questions, or hit him up on his Twitter page.

Greg R. of La Quinta, CA: "Big Pat Perez fan here and love how you've helped him get his game dialed in. I was out at the Bob Hope back in January and see the change in his game. My question is pretty straightforward, Coach. How do I get more power off the tee? I've seen conflicting stories in all the golf magazines I subscribe to. Figured I'd go to the source here and ask a full-fledged, experienced, PGA Tour biomechanics coach. Keep up the great work!"

Greg, a pretty incredible week for PP out there in the desert a few months back. Glad to hear you got to witness it in person. So great to see Pat finally break through with that first win.

Your question is solid and you're right, it's addressed often in many golf-themed magazines. It's also one I am asked often, not just by fans - but by my players. Charlie Wi and I had this same discussion last week as he too is looking for more power off the tee.

There are varying opinions on the subject, but this is my personal and professional opinion. I'm telling you the same thing I told Charlie and I'd tell any of my guys.

It's not how hard or fast you swing the club. It's all about getting the club to the ball with the club head face square at impact and keeping the club on plane. Your power is stored in your back swing. It travels down the plane line and gets released at impact. Do all of that correctly and you're going to have greater distance. That said, the hard part is pulling everything together and making it work to perfection.

A lot has to happen to get more power off the tee. Again, go back to the title of my book - "Fix Your Body, Fix Your Swing". You have to allow your body to increase its range of motion; call it the 'sling shot theory'.

If you held a sling shot in your hand, put a stone in it, pulled it back 10 degrees and let it go, the stone would travel 'x' amount of distance. Pull it back 20 degrees and let it go, the distance will increase even further. Using this example, where is the power stored? It stores in the end range of motion at the top or end of the back swing.

With a sling shot, the form is perfect every time - which isn't always the case with one's back swing. Should you do this inefficiently, you lose your spine angle and several thing fall apart from there. If you want more power, you need your body to move into certain positions. Flexibility equals power. You have to become flexible enough to even get to the top of your back swing and increase that range of motion. You want to eventually be comfortable in this maximum position where you belong.

I'm not telling everybody you need to go further and further back. That can create the classic reverse pivot and those unable to completely reach the top of their back swing, it may be more efficient to take a half swing. That's alright if you're in the beginning stages of working through this, but I employ you to work your way out of that.

It all comes back to the 'sling shot theory' and the fact that flexibility creates power. To increase flexibility, focus on your bandwork. Movement strength is the MOST important thing that you can do. Flexibility and movement strength are the two best ways for you to get more power off of the tee. Use the bands to then mimic your golf swing.

Strength training is important, but you absolutely have to mimic the exact things the body does to be able to understand the end result. It's all about keeping the club squared at impact, keeping the club on plane and not deluding yourself into thinking it's all about club speed.

Practice everything we've discussed above and also spend some time working on your rotation, where your spine sits into your hips. Keep the hips loose and you'll create more movement in your back swing.